I'm really not good at updating this.

Things have been busy at work lately. There are now two of us doing three jobs until January. It's not bad at all, just have to keep thinking about all the things that need to be done and when.

We've had a really rainy fall. It's been raining most mornings and then having a period of a few hours of sun in the afternoon, and then raining all night. Everything is so wet.

As far as catching up on things... Summer was great. Cooler than usual, so mostly jeans and t-shirt weather, which is not what I like, but not bad. We had a really great staff at camp, and lots of great leadership amongst the Unit Coordinators, which lead to a smooth summer with not too many problems. We had ACA this summer, and it went without a hitch, so that was great. I plan on taking the ACA visitors course this winter so I can be a visitor. ACA is the American Camp Association, which is an association that sets forth best practices standards for camps.

I got a new macbook pro in september. It's been a lot of fun figuring out all the little things about the computer. I haven't had a mac since the imac in middle school... So a lot has changed. I also got my first smartphone this september! So, it's been a month of lots of new gadgets, and spending money. October is going to be a saving month.

On Wednesday I take the Miller Analogy Test (MAT) for and entrance test to get into Gonzaga for a Masters in Organizational Leadership. We'll see how it goes. I think I'm going to do fine. Once that is done, I'll find out if I get in and then I'll start school on October 25. Yikes! It's so soon. My parents figured out all my financial aid for my undergrad, so figuring all that out for grad school will be interesting and a new challenge.

I have 11 days of vacation that I have to use before the end of December, but not a lot of money. Any cheap vacation ideas? :)

I'll try to update this thing more regularly!

Well, It's been a while...

I'm definitely not very good about the whole updating the blog thing.
I've done a lot of things in the last few months! a lot of work mostly, but I went to Denver for a conference and saw lots of my EF friends in Feb, Val came to visit and we went to Zac Brown Band in March, in April I went to Eastern Washington with Nick and some of his family on a fishing trip, I went to Portland for my sister's graduation and bought a car (2005 Jettta TDI)while I was there in May, and that brings me to June, which is recent enough that I can elaborate a bit more :)

I have been taking a CDL class since March, and finally took the driving and knowledge tests! So I'm now a licensed passenger bus driver. This means I can drive the camp bus filled with kids. yahoo!

We've been doing lots of planning for summer! It still feels like summer is a long ways away, since it has not gotten even remotely warm yet. We've had a few warmer days, but there has been SO. MUCH. RAIN! It's miserable. It's rainier now than it was in February and March I think. Every once in a while someone will call out in the office "when is summer coming?!" I spent some time today sitting on my office floor in front of the heater. It's COLD! I still believe that it will get warmer soon.

Mandy and AJ came to visit last weekend, from Cedar Falls, IA :) it was really really great to see them. Nick and I took them to the San Juan islands. We had amazing weather (weird) and saw both Mt Rainier and Mt Baker from the top of Mt Constitution. from Mt Constitution you can see the Canadian coastal range and all the cascades and the olympics too. It was breathtaking. Our camera was back at the campsite. So, that was lame. We have some great pics on the cell phones though!
We camped all weekend, and had a blast walking around on the beaches and enjoying the sights and relaxing back at the campsite in the evening. We almost got to see Orca Whales, which would have been AMAZING, but they weren't supposed to swim past the park for 2 more hours, and we had more to see and more to do, so we moved on.
This weekend we're supposed to go to eastern washington to go camping. I'm really excited about that because it's warm there! It is over the cascade mountain range, so it is not in the weird rain convergence zone that is NW Washington. So, most likely it will be warm and good weather. I'm bringing the bikini and the sunscreen :)

After this weekend, Summer officially begins with our first staff coming in on June 23. We have supervisor training and then the first campers come on June 26. That's grief camp, a special camp for kids who have lost a loved one. It's an intense week in a lot of ways, but also a very happy and loving week, and a great way to kick off the summer. After grief camp comes pre-camp training, and then the regular summer season starts. It's crazy to think that it's so close. There's lots to look forward to, and lots to love about being a Camp Director. It's an amazing job that is super rewarding in a lot of ways! I get to contribute to the experiences of so many people; kids and adults and help them create the best summer of their lives.
Also, that means I never get any time off in the summer. Sometimes I fantasize about what it would be like to have a summer vacation. And then I start thinking about different careers. Most of the time though, I love my job! And who loves their job 100% of the time anyway. :)

I can't believe it's already December 15. My whole family will be here in the next week. I think it may be a little crazy that I'm having them all out here... but I hope that it will be fun. Tace gets here on Friday, Dad on Saturday, Toby on Sunday, and Mom on Tuesday. I still really have no idea how to arrange sleeping. It will all work out. I need to wrap presents though.
Today is my last day of work in 2009. I have to work on the 20th, but it's a christmas party/staff reunion that we're putting on, so that will just be fun and stuff. I'm pretty excited about it. It's going to be nice to have a long block of time off.
well, it's 9am, and I'm still laying on the couch in my pajamas. I should be in the office, or at least walking down there... I should go.

Thanksgiving!

SO, it's thanksgiving break. and yes, i have thanksgiving break!

i don't have to work til monday, and i'm thankful for that. work is slow in the winter, and it's extremely boring to sit in the office for more than about 2 hours.

lately, nick has been stressed about this potential job that he interviewed for. so him stressed=me stressed... which is unusual. i don't usually get stressed. i just really want the best for him, and i really want him to get whatever he wants, and i know that he wants this job and it would be great for him. and he deserves it.

it's nearly december... no snow here yet. mt baker has had over 5 ft of snow... and that's only 2 hours from here, so i know there's good skiing somewhere. just need to find it. i need to figure out if my skis are still the right size for me. also, i think juneau would like skiing... well, running to skiing.

i really should go to bed. i have company over, and they went to bed about an hour ago, as did nick.... i did all the dishes and am now sitting on the computer... avoiding bed. it actually is starting to sound nice though... i'm off to brush my teeth :)

Today I'm the only one in the office. There's a guy coming to clean the hood over the grill and such in the kitchen today. I have to wait for him to arrive. He should be here any time.

I was going to go swimming over my lunch break, but Chuck caught me as I was trying to leave... So I missed the time that the pool was open for lap swimming. Well I would have been able to swim for about 20 minutes, but I'm not interested in driving all the way to Marysville to swim for 20 minutes. I could just go for a run. So now, that's my plan for working out today. Going for a run. To be completely honest, I'll be surprised if I go, but I'm going to try.

I need to figure out a way to be more motivated to work out. I'm not trying to lose weight, just get in shape and hopefully have a little more energy. It would also be nice to have those awesome abs I used to have back. Maybe I should find an aerobics class or something. Something that I have to do... I hate feeling like a bum, but I'm so not motivated. Any ideas?

So instead of swimming, since I'd already gotten in my car, I went shopping. I got some great shoes and a couple pairs of earrings that I like, but seriously. It's like "oh, I know! instead of working out I'll go spend money". BAH. fml.

Happiness is a Warm Sleeping Bag

So. I'm working today. Today we're going all over camp turning things off and making sure that we are using as little money as possible when there aren't people in camp. It will be good to know what is on and what is off around here so that I don't wonder, or make mistakes, when a group comes in.

I'm trying to organize a climbing specialty camp for next summer. I need to think of what to call it, because we are sending out an email with all our dates and specialties for next summer, and that's one of them! I also am starting a leadership training camp for teens, and need to figure out what to call that. argh. I don't know why I can't think of anything.

I also need to figure out when/what/where I'm going to take my vacation for this year. Carol wants us to take two weeks! That, on top of the week paid holiday we get between Christmas and New Years, means that I'm probably not going to work much of December. So yeah, need to figure that out. It's coming up.

I got up a half an hour earlier today so that I would get to work a little early to be prepared for Carol to get here. Instead I hit snooze more times, and took a longer shower, and made breakfast and sat and read while I ate. I got to work a few minutes later than usual, but was still the first person to the office, so it was fine. And Carol isn't coming til 11, so no sweat. Whatevs.

Gotta go brainstorm names...

The New Blog

So, I recently read Robin's Blog... and hers is awesome! I'm going to try to be more like her, and update regularly. Maybe, I can actually keep an account of my life, since I live so far from most of my friends and family.

Right now, I'm sitting in my *new* living room, looking out at a SUNNY day in NW Washington. Pretty impressive, I know. I love my new place, it has so much more room than my old place. I still don't really feel like I've made it mine... Right now I still have all the old living room furniture that was here when I moved in, and I'd really like to get a new couch. This one is all stained and stuff... not exactly that great! I still need to move a few things from my old apartment, but I've been waiting for Nick to be available to help me, since it's big stuff like the futon and kitchen table, etc. He's been really busy hunting and working, so when he gets home at night he's tired and usually falls asleep on the couch.

this is the view from my living room window!

and this is my living room

My fireplace is one of my favorite things!

Juneau loves her new place, but escapes regularly. My backyard fence needs some work. There are places that she can easily get out of, but she just loves having a yard to play in, and hasn't had any accidents in the house since she realized that she had a yard, which only took a day or two. It's so nice not to have to come home and clean up poop.The backyard...

Juneau... in the front yard. She escaped this morning.

I was going to go swimming today. But, I'd have to be there in 15 minutes, and Juneau is out gallivanting around camp and there's no way I'll be able to catch her and make it to the pool in time to swim for the 45 min lap swim allotment. Also, I got rather involved in the whole blog thing.

Work is going pretty well... despite the whole economy thing. Boeing decided to move one of it's product lines to North Carolina, so a lot of people in Everett are going to get laid off. That means that potentially we have quite a few kids whose parents suddenly don't have jobs. Which means they probably won't be able to come to camp. Which sucks.

Also the H1N1 thing has become a problem here. Not because we've caught it, or had anyone at camp who had it... but because schools aren't letting their kids take overnight field trips in the month of November. We've had one group cancel and are potentially losing another one. My only two big groups for the rest of the year. Needless to say, my boss has been rather stressed about the whole budget thing, and so we're trying to save money however we can.

Today is my day off. Hooray! Need to go to Target. Should probably do that soon...

I guess I'm done rambling for the day...